Examining the Associations between Sustainable Development Population Policies and Human Trafficking

The policy of sustainable development requires reductions in growth of human populations to promote environmental sustainability and economic development. The objective is to control environmental catastrophism and advance financial growth with population policies on a global scale to foster environmental sustainability — sustainable development. As promoted by the United Nations in global conferences, sustainable development efforts are designed to limit populations to preserve natural resources and enhance economic development. Economic development, however, relies on human capital, the physical and technical efficiency of a population. More particularly, United Nations conferences of the last twenty years have been focused on population, gender, women's rights, children's rights, healthcare, and education as “the main issues that framed the debate on the family and ultimately influenced many policy initiatives regarding it.” Because these population matters tend to place women and families at the center of the debate, they are important actors in the advancement of sustainable development policies to limit human populations. More particularly, as this article argues, population policies inherently place the primary burden for population control on women. A closer examination of these policies reveals that they also tend to place women at greater risk. This article proposes that sustainable development policies present a demanding and perilous environment for women, and that a pervasive international policy of sustainable development can negatively affect already problematic demographics that are showing serious declines in child bearing and in child rearing